Small businesses across the country will get a boost from a new program that Facebook is launching in cooperation from the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. 

Facebook is also sponsoring a series of road shows across the US to promote its "Small Business Boost".  Then, in January 2012, Facebook will be awarding a total of $10 million of free advertising to 200,000 businesses.

Ad Age Digital columnist, Cotton Delo, reports that "44% of small and medium sized businesses used social media as a marketing tool in August of 2011 and 59% spent less than $100 on social media marketing."

Facebook's VP of advertising, David Fischer, noted that of the 9,2 million small businesses who have Facebook pages, only 3.2 million are actively using them. "You want to be in front of [people] -- maybe it's a few times a week you're posting a few sentences, talking about what's going on," he said.

Facebook will be using the program to teach small businesses how to use Facebook ad products like its self-serve platform.  Fischer reports that an auto-dealer reported $20,000 in profits from a $300 ad program on Facebook.

"We spend a lot of time thinking about how we can work with small businesses, and we know we have tools that can help them effectively," said Fischer.

Read the full report at Ad Age Digital.

photo credit: pamlau

Posted in Marketing, Headlines

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